Process of manufacture of steel gun and ordnance barrels.



SNXTED STATES PATENT OFFEQE.

WILLIAM A. SALTER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE OF STEEL GUN AND ORDNANCE BAEEELS.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. SALTER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county ofJackson and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvementsin the Process of Manufacture of Steel Gun and Ordnance Barrels.

This invention relates to the manufacture of breech loading gun andordnance barrels of steel composition, and has for its object, to renderthe process of turning out the completed barrel more expeditiously; tomake a barrel in which the bursting or tensile strength is greatlyincreased, and cheapen the cost of manufacture.

In the working of the steel, I take advantage of the fact that when itis heated to a red or a White heat, it expands considerably over what itwas in a cold state, and shrinks in cooling, and also while it is in awhite or red heat stage, steel adapts itself to forging operations, byblows from hammers, rollers under pressure, or heavy pressure. Also whena piece of steel is heated to a white or red heat to where it is in asemi ductile state and a strong cooling element is brought in contactwith one side of it, that side of it will rapidly chill and the cooledportion travel across the steel slowly until the entire piece is cooled.I employ these characteristics, and after turning the outside of mysteel barrel to approximately its right size, and boring the holethroughout its Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 10, 1915.

Serial No. 66,096.

length, the barrel is brought to a heat where it is adapted for working,and a strong cooling element such as water, or oil, or air undercompression, is then forced through the bore, and as the bore starts tocool, the ex ternal part of the barrel is then subjected to acompressing and reducing process, so that the hot exterior of the barrelis kept constantly compressed and reduced against the slowly coolingcore around the bore, with the result that the completed barrel when,cooled, is in a state of uniform compression around the bore, to resistthe forces of explosion when in use.

I claim:

The process of manufacturing breech load ing gun and ordnance steelbarrels, consisting in preparing the barrel to approximately its rightsize having a bore throughout its length, heating the barrel to aworking temperature, forcing a strong cooling medium through the bore,and as the walls of the bore start to cool, applying a prolongedcompressing and reducing force to the external part of the barrel sothat the hot exterior is kept compressed against the slowly coolingwalls of the bore, thus causing a uniform compression around the bore ofthe barrel, to reslst the strain of expansion when in use.

WILLIAM A. SALTER. Witnesses:

GERHARD B. Sorrnonn, OLIVE A. SHORE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G."

Patented Sept. 2%, 1.915.

